The present invention relates generally to narrow width textile fabric bands and tapes and, more particularly, to a narrow-width textile fabric tape of a crochet-knitted structure adapted particularly for use as a mattress closing tape.
In the manufacture of conventional mattresses, box springs and the like, a bead or cord is typically enclosed within a narrow-width fabric band or tape which is sewn with the fabric covering of the mattress or box spring at the edges defining one or both of the upper and lower perimeters of the mattress or box spring in order to form a finished border thereat. Conventionally such narrow-width bands or tapes are formed of a relatively stiff fabric material, typically of a woven construction, which provides durability against abrasion but disadvantageously produces a relatively rough feel and hand which can detract from the comfort of the mattress and/or box spring. In addition, the stiffiess of such conventional tapes tends to result in folds or puckers in the tape when sewn into a mattress construction, particularly at the corners of the mattress, which further detracts from the aesthetic appearance of the mattress as well as further detracting from the feel and comfort of the mattress border.
More recently, attempts have been made to produce aesthetically pleasing and functional mattress closing tapes of a knitted fabric construction, typically a crochet-knitted narrow-width band or tape. Representative examples have been offered commercially or produced by the C.T. Nassau Company and American Textile Tape Company. While these knitted mattress closing tapes have begun to achieve a modest level of acceptance within the bedding industry, such products either lack the aesthetic patterning available with conventional woven mattress tapes (as with the C.T. Nassau Company product) and/or have been of comparable stiffness to the known woven mattress tapes (as with the American Textile Tape Company product) so as to thereby fail to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages thereof. Another disadvantage of both conventional woven mattress closing tapes as well as the more recently introduced crochet-knitted tapes is that the tapes must be made and inventoried in a number of differing colors corresponding to all of the differing colors in which the mattresses themselves are produced.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a novel and improved mattress closing tape of a fabric construction which enables a differing color (or other visual indicia) to be imparted to the opposite faces of the tape such that a single tape is usable reversibly with either of two differing mattress colors, thereby reducing the tape inventory requirements for mattress manufacturers. A more particular object of the present invention is to make the present mattress closing tape of a crochet knitted fabric construction which achieves an aesthetically pleasing surface patterning while maintaining a desirably flexible fabric structure which will closely conform to a mattress bead or cord with minimal, if any, puckering or folding.
Briefly summarized, the mattress closing tape of the present invention is produced on a crochet-type warp knitting machine having multiple warp yarns and multiple filling yarns forming a base fabric layer of one color, or other visual indicia, at one face of the tape and an opposing fabric layer of a differing color, or visual indicia, at the opposite face of the tape. In a preferred embodiment, the warp yarns comprise a single warp of multiple warp yarns inter-knitted with at least two, and more preferably at least four, differentially knitted filling yarns. The warp yarns are formed into crochet-type chain stitches extending lengthwise along the tape fabric. A first single base filling yarn and a second single base filling yarn, each of a first selected color or visual indicia, traverse weftwise, i.e., laterally, back and forth across all of the warp yarns through the individual chain stitch loops to form the base fabric structure. A set of multiple third pattern filling yarns and a set of multiple fourth pattern filling yarns, each of a second differing selected color or visual indicia, are knitted into the fabric structure at spacings (preferably uniform spacings) across the width of the tape fabric, each of the pattern filling yarns traversing back and forth across a few respective ones of the warp yarns according to respective pre-selected traversal patterns, thereby to produce the opposing layer of the tape fabric with a patterned effect. Preferably the pattern filling yarns traverse diagonally in opposition to one another in symmetrical patterns which thereby produce a pattern of a diamond-like appearance. In the preferred embodiment, the base filling yarns are knitted at the technical face of the fabric, to present the first color or visual indicia thereat, while the sets of the pattern filling yarns are knitted at the technical back of the fabric, to present the second color or visual indicia thereat. It is further preferred that the sets of the pattern filling yarns be fed at a slightly retarded or delayed timing relative to the base filling yarns and the warp yarns so as to not be captured within the chain stitch loops of the warp yarns but instead are captured by the underlaps extending between the chain stitch loops at the technical back of the fabric.